The Ocean's Call
by lightblue-Nymphadora
Summary: 100 Days of AUs, day 5. Santana finds out something about Dani. Santana/Dani. Dantana. One-shot.


_**LbN: Guess who caught the plague last week, couldn't leave her no-WiFi-having house, and thus couldn't update? Me! Lol, you get two for the price of one today. Here's the first. The winner of the poll was "Mermaid".**_

The Birch Aquarium in San Diego was teeming with children that Saturday. Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, families rolling strollers and hanging on to toddlers on leashes… and in the midst of all this, Santana was trying to keep the chaos to a minimum around the petting tank. She'd been soaked for about an hour, so she didn't care about that, but she was rather concerned that a watery creature was going to get crushed, squished, or eaten while she wasn't looking. The light was growing bigger at the end of the tunnel, though, as it was exactly ten minutes until her shift was over. After that, the kids and the tank were in Afton's hands. Her roommate was nowhere near as good with the kids as she was, but she was worlds better with the pushy parents.

The last ten minutes was spent running around, trying to keep a couple of twelve-year-old little shits from poking things with a pocket knife. She nearly groaned with relief when she saw Afton walking toward her.

"Hey, roomie," the redhead called. "Who's your favorite roommate?"

"You are," Santana said, grinning. Afton was her only roommate, them having been put together the year before as freshmen, but when she said that it was usually because she'd done something epic. Something epic from which Santana would directly benefit, that is. "Why?"

"My professor had us meet with our partners to exchanged papers today, so we didn't have class. I made food."

"You are a saint," Santana said. Her stomach was rumbling already, and Afton was a better cook than she was – though she'd never admit it. They had cook offs on the regular. "I'll do the dishes. See you later tonight."

"See you. Say hi to Dani for me," she sang.

Santana rolled her eyes. She'd been seeing her girlfriend for about six months now, and Afton took full credit for playing matchmaker. Speak of the devil, she thought, as her phone rang. "Hey gorgeous!"

"Hi Santana," Dani said, sounding a little flustered. "Listen, I know tonight's supposed to be movie night at your place, but I can't. I...um...I have a family… thing… that came up."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine. I just need to reschedule is all."

"Are you okay right now, though?" Santana asked as she got into her car. "You sound out of breath."

"Fine," Dani said. "I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," Santana said slowly. "Promise to call if you need me?"

"I promise." With that, Dani ended the call.

Santana set her phone down and started the car. She didn't know a lot about Dani's family, other than the fact that they were loaded, and that she and her twin brother Dylan were the golden children of a rather large extended network of cousins. She knew her girlfriend didn't like talking about her family much, and never pushed her. For all she knew, the LaCroixs could be connected with the mob or something.

Her girlfriend was still on her mind, though, when she got home. She'd never heard her normally chill girl so...stressed. She sounded out of breath, like she'd been running. As Santana loaded her plate down with mashed potatoes, green beans, and beef tips, she decided to go see Dani tomorrow, just to make sure she was okay.

The sun had gone down, and Santana had napped for about an hour before she started to work on her assignments. She was wondering, for the eighth time that night, why she'd chosen a Linguistics - International Business double major. She finished the first draft of her paper for Global Strategic Management, and picked up her books for Sociolinguistics and African Literature. She was about to flip a coin to pick which one to crack open first, when she had an idea. Pausing only to stuff her books into her bag and write a quick note to Afton, she grabbed her keys and headed out.

* * *

><p>It was a full moon and clear, cool skies when Santana got to the beach. The part she was going to was the less used side of things, but she felt safe enough. There was nothing like getting the fire pit going and reading on the beach. When she pulled into the parking lot, though, she got a shock.<p>

Dani's blue Jeep was there. She knew it was Dani's, because of the plethora of bumper stickers on the back. It was hard to forget the "Honk if you love artistic lesbians sticker".

Santana got out and, not seeing Dani in the truck, walked down the rocky path toward the beach. When she got down to the sandy bank and looked toward the cliffs on her right, she saw a figure striding out into the water. It was already waist-deep, and dove under as Santana began running.

"Dani!" she shouted. What the hell was she thinking? It was pitch black and the waves were coming in high and fast. When she got to the place where her girlfriend had vanished under the waves, she saw no trace of her. Should she call the police? The Coast Guard? She watched the spot where Dani had dived under - her girlfriend hadn't come up yet. Help would take too long. Dropping her backpack, she took off her shoes and jacket and waded into the water. "Dani!"

A wave came in and tossed her under. She swam perpendicular to the current, coming up for air whenever she could. The waves were getting stronger now, and when she tried to kick out for the surface, there was only water. Her chest pounded as she swam harder - frightened for her girlfriend and herself now. She managed to get to the surface before another wave broke over her head, and spotted that she was a long, long, way from the shore. Another wave crashed over her. Her arms were screaming as she tried to swim, and now she couldn't even reach the surface. She swallowed water. She inhaled water.

Two strong arms grabbed her around the waist and there was a rushing sensation.

When Santana opened her eyes again, Dani was leaning over her, green hair dripping and looking terrified.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she asked as Santana spurted up water.

Santana coughed and glared at her. "I think I should be asking you that question. What were you doing? And how did you get us...out…." Santana, sitting up now, had just now noticed the change in her girlfriend.

Dani had a fin. Like a long, scaly fin. A proper mermaid fin. The younger woman scooted back, looking apprehensively at Santana's look of shock.

"What the - you're a - how -"

"Santana, please, I can explain," Dani said, holding up her hands. "But I have to get back in the water. Please don't tell anyone?" she begged.

Santana stared at her for a minute, and then nodded. "Okay. Okay, I won't say anything. But, Dani? When will you be...er...human again?"

Dani smiled. "I'll call you tomorrow afternoon, and I promise I'll tell you as much as I can."

"Okay."

With that, Dani slithered (yes, slithered) back to the water and into the sea.

Santana sat shivering on the back for a while. Finally, she picked herself up, muscles already sore, and trudged back for her bookbag. Her phone showed that it was around nine o'clock, and she'd missed two calls from Afton. She sat in her car for about ten minutes to get over the shock, and then dialed her roommate's number. "Afton?"

"Hey girl! Are you still at the beach? It's Friday - Grey's Anatomy night! And Cruz brought donuts to work and didn't want to take them home, so we've got like a dozen blueberry donuts from Donut Stop just begging to be eaten."

"Yeah, yeah, I just lost track of time," Santana said. "I'll be home soon."

"You okay? You sound out of breath?"

"I'm fine," Santana assured her, in as chipper a voice as she could muster. "I'll be there in ten."

* * *

><p>Santana stayed in the next day, even though Afton wanted to go biking. She'd been thinking over what had happened the night before, flying in extra reserves of common sense to try and rationalize it. She found that she couldn't. Instead, she waited for her girlfriend to call. Expecting her phone to ring, she was surprised when there was a knock at the door.<p>

Dani stood there with a bag of chinese food cartons. "I thought this might be easier over lunch," she said.

They ate in silence, Santana glancing over at Dani's legs every once in a while.

Finally, Dani said, "Don't worry - I didn't sell my soul to a sea witch or anything."

Santana managed to grin. "Sorry. I'm just...still a little in shock."

"Understandable."

"So...you're a mermaid."

"Dlo-Fae," Dani corrected. "Or Water Fae, if you prefer. We can go on land, as you can see, and we're...higher in the hierarchy, I guess you could say."

"So you're mermaid royalty."

Dani smiled. "Basically."

"Please tell me your father's not Poseidon or something, because -"

"No, no," Dani said, laughing. "Everything I've told you about my family is true - names, temperaments, jobs… just with the added bonus of us being able to live in the ocean."

"And you had to go see them last night?"

"It was a Council meeting. Plus the tides were a little strong yesterday - call it that time of the month for me. Lots of us will live like mermaids and never go on land, and they can't stay there too long if they do. But I've trained myself to live mostly like a human. Sometimes, though, I just can't ignore the ocean's call. I was heading home last night. I heard you calling me though, and I turned back to find you. I knew you wouldn't make it if I didn't."

"Thank you," Santana said.

"San...listen...this makes things a little...complicated."

"It doesn't change anything with us," Santana said hastily. "It doesn't change the way I feel about you."

"I'm glad. But that's not what I meant. Council rules dictate that I should have let you drown last night. I could've turned you after that - made you a mermaid - but we're not supposed to go rescuing humans. It could expose us."

"I'd never give your secret away," Santana insisted. "I want you to be safe."

"Then we need to go down to the beach again tonight," Dani said. "My father will be there, and other members of the Council. They'll make you swear not to tell. It'll be binding."

"Magically?"

"I guess you could say so. Will you come?" Dani asked.

"Of course."

* * *

><p>Santana and Dani stood side by side in front of the Council. The leaders were waiting for their response. What they'd asked of the two young women had shocked even Dani.<p>

"You can't be serious," she said.

"We are, Princess Danielle," one member said. "And we don't have much time. We must return to the sea."

"You want us to marry each other? Right now? You can't even let her think about it for a week or two?" Dani demanded.

Her father stepped forward, taking both of their hands. "This is how we bind Santana to the secret. It must be so."

"But you can't just -"

"I'll do it," Santana said softly. She turned, smiling gently at Dani. "I'll do it."

"Santana…."

"I know it's only been six months, but…. I'm okay with it. If it keeps you safe, and it's what they need. I'll do it. Plus, if you get bored of me, you've got an escape route," she said, grinning and nodding to the ocean.

Dani's father smiled at them. "Come forward then."

Dani put a hand on Santana's arm. "You're...you're sure?"

Santana smiled and took her hand. "I am."

_**FIN**_


End file.
